December 4 was the first night of Maybeshewill’s UK tour and saw them bring their show to The Deaf Institute in Manchester, a lovely venue in the city centre with a lot of character.
Openers Mutiny On The Bounty (6/10) were a good way to get the evening started with their soft instrumental music and it was a musically tight performance from the band. However, there wasn’t too much to the performance and it was all too easy to lose focus as the songs blended in and out of each other as there wasn’t much variation from track to track. It felt like they could have given more and whilst the music was good, their live performance needed a bit of work.
It could quite easily be said that Flood Of Red (7/10) were the odd ones out on the bill, due to being the only band of the three that had a vocalist, but contrary to this, they couldn’t have been a better fit, with lush melodic moments and very big-sounding instrumentation, but at times it all just seemed a little unsubstantial. On occasion, the vocals lacked body and it made the music suffer as a result, but the members did seem very into the music onstage, which did help. However as a whole it was a little disappointing; I’ve seen Flood Of Red a few times in the past and know they are capable of better than this.
Maybeshewill (8/10) are most definitely one of the best instrumental bands about right now and there was a great atmosphere in the venue as soon as they took to the stage. They were very tight and together, and the sound resonated about the entire room as they powered through an impressive set that contained a good mix of old and new material, all of which was enthusiastically received. It’s been a fair while since they last headlined shows in the UK so it was great to see how well they went down!
It’s very difficult to earmark just one or two songs as being a highlight because it was all just so good – each song blended seamlessly into the next, yet it didn’t feel like one endless track; each song had its own unique identity – something that is occasionally a problem with instrumental acts as lots of their songs can have repeating ideas cropping up and whilst it works on CD, it sometimes doesn’t translate well live. However this was not the case with Maybeshewill.
Indeed, the only element of the show that could perhaps have been improved on was their crowd interaction, but aside from that, it was a stunning show from the outfit and if you’re going to be attending one of the UK shows then you will be in for an absolute treat!
